Internet Privacy Sparks Fight in France and Canada

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France, Canada and Russia are all embroiled in Internet privacy
battles that could significantly affect the delicate relationship
between Web users and the government.

Big Brother is watching you

A recently enacted French data retention law is drawing fervent
opposition from a number of companies, including Google and eBay.

The new law mandates that Internet service providers keep
usernames, passwords, dates and times of online activity, phone
numbers, email addresses and home addresses of all customers for
12 months. The records can then be made available to the police
and other government agencies, the technology website
GigaOm reported.

Not surprisingly, this data retention law isn’t sitting well with
supporters of a
Big Brotherless Web, who feel the law gives the government
undue control over its citizenry.

The French Association of Internet Community Services (ASIC)
announced it is challenging the law. Twenty-six companies are
backing the ASIC’s move, including Google, eBay and the
Paris-based video-sharing service Dailymotion.

“Several elements [of the law] are problematic, including the
fact that there was no notification from the European
Commission,” Benoit Tabaka, ASIC secretary and director, said.

The Canadian Conservative government, if it’s re-elected, wants
to pass a comprehensive “crime and justice” bill that would imbue
the Canadian government with the right to intercept users’
Internet communications.

A post on the website Boing
Boing points to an article by technology columnist Michael
Geist, who said the new bill — which includes provisions to allow
for real-time government surveillance of online activity and for
ISPs to obtain customer data for use by the authorities — would
“have the potential to fundamentally reshape the Internet in
Canada.”

“Few would argue that it is important to ensure that law
enforcement has the necessary tools to address online crime
issues. But these proposals come at an enormous financial and
privacy cost, with as yet limited evidence that the current legal
framework has impeded importance police work,” Geist
wrote on his website.

A small privacy victory in Russia

The Kremlin last week rejected a senior security official’s
proposal that Russia ban Skype, Gmail and Hotmail for their
potential threats to national security.

Alexander Andreyechkin, chief of the Federal Security Service
(FSB), was told that he had “abused his authority” by suggesting
that encrypted online communications providers such as Skype and
Gmail “pose large-scale threat to Russia’s security,” the
Associated Press reported.

The push for limiting open lines of Web communication came April
8, just a day after Russian President
Dmitri Medvedev took to his LiveJournal blog to condemn
whoever had been hacking it for the previous two weeks.

Agence France-Presse reported that Medvedev called the online
attacks “outrageous and illegal,” and demanded law enforcement
agencies launch an investigation.